An Empirical Investigation of Collaborative Conflict Management Style in Group Support System-Based Global Virtual Teams

Author(s)

Souren Paul, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Imad M. Samarah
Priya Seetharaman
Peter P. Mykytyn Jr.

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Management Information Systems

ISSN

0742-1222

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

Virtual teams cut across national, organizational, and functional boundaries, often resulting in diversity in team composition. This paper presents the results of a laboratory study involving groupware-supported, culturally homogeneous, and heterogeneous virtual teams where collaborative conflict management style, a team's cultural orientation as measured by the degree of individualism-collectivism, and group diversity affect several group performance variables. Collaborative conflict management style was positively related to performance, group diversity was found to have a moderating influence between collaborative style and group performance, and collaborative style was influenced by the individualistic-collectivistic orientations. Consistent with prior research, we found that collectivistic orientations help enhance the level of collaborative conflict management style prevailing in teams. Our research also indicates that the process to motivate team members may differ depending on their orientation.

DOI

10.1080/07421222.2004.11045809

Volume

21

Issue

3

First Page

185

Last Page

222

NSUWorks Citation

Paul, Souren; Samarah, Imad M.; Seetharaman, Priya; and Mykytyn, Peter P. Jr., "An Empirical Investigation of Collaborative Conflict Management Style in Group Support System-Based Global Virtual Teams" (2004). CCE Faculty Articles. 373.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_facarticles/373